Determinism and Freedom in Stoic Philosophy

Susanne Bobzien

Abstract

This book is a comprehensive study of the Stoic theory of causal and teleological determinism. It identifies the main problems the Stoics addressed, reconstructs the theory, and explores how they squared their determinism with their conceptions of possibility, action, freedom, and moral responsibility, and how they defended it against objections and criticism by other philosophers. It shows how the Stoics distinguished their causal determinism from ancient theories of logical determinism, fatalism, and necessitarianism, and shows that they developed a compatibilist theory with a rationalist co ... More

This book is a comprehensive study of the Stoic theory of causal and teleological determinism. It identifies the main problems the Stoics addressed, reconstructs the theory, and explores how they squared their determinism with their conceptions of possibility, action, freedom, and moral responsibility, and how they defended it against objections and criticism by other philosophers. It shows how the Stoics distinguished their causal determinism from ancient theories of logical determinism, fatalism, and necessitarianism, and shows that they developed a compatibilist theory with a rationalist component. Along the way many other related aspects of Stoic thought are discussed, including their views on the predictability of the future, the role of empirical sciences, character development, and moral freedom. The main Stoic theory of causal determinism goes back to the Stoic Chrysippus. There are some interesting developments of the theory in the later Stoa.

End Matter

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